


Protect the Things You Love

by Rawrsuzie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: BAMF Oikawa Tooru, Blood and Injury, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hospitals, I love that it is a tag, Iwaizumi is a BAMF too, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 11:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10920735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rawrsuzie/pseuds/Rawrsuzie
Summary: "Tooru didn’t think he was particularly brave for protecting his nephew—it was his job to, just like Hajime had found it his job to go save his boyfriend."Or Oikawa gets jumped while walking home with his nephew and Iwaizumi goes and saves him.





	Protect the Things You Love

**Author's Note:**

> This was sitting in my drafts for a while and I figured I'd finally do something with it. Cheers to spring cleaning! 
> 
> (Someone let me know if I should tag it with that Graphic Violence warning. I didn't think the violence was too bad...)

“Tooru! You said you were going to teach me how to serve!”

“Oi! How about saying please first?”

They walk side by side, steady steps filling the quiet of the evening as the two of them make their way home after spending the afternoon playing in the park. Takeru looks up from the popsicle he’s slowly been munching on, eyeing his uncle with a flat expression.

“You don’t make Hajime say please when you two play together.”

“Iwa-chan is a grown-up; he’s already learned to respect his elders, unlike some brat I know.”

_And he’d probably hit me if I tried._ He adds silently.   

Takeru’s expression sours and Oikawa has to wipe the smile off of his face from watching a pout form on his nephew’s face. Iwaizumi had told him before that he and Takeru look nearly identical when they were pouting and it never fails to make him grin when he thinks about how they both are very much alike.

“I guess that explains why Hajime doesn’t respect you then since you act like a child.”

And how _really_ alike he and Iwaizumi were.  

Tooru pouts at him. “Keep that talk up and I won’t buy you anymore treats!”

“Mom says you’re ruining my appetite by doing that.”

Oikawa rolls his eyes, shifting the volleyball resting on his hip and holding it with both hands behind the back of his neck. He regards the younger boy with an amused expression. “Yeah, and your Mom thinks volleyball is a waste of time, are we really going to believe that?”

It earns him a toothy grin, showing off a couple of the gaps where Takeru had lost some of his teeth. “Mom just doesn’t get how cool volleyball is.”

“Which is why I have to get you home on time or else she’s going to have my head!”

There is a sudden vibrations against his thigh. He tucks the ball back against his hip, reaching in to the pocket of his jersey pants with his free hand, fishing his cell phone out and snorting when he looks at caller on the screen. “Speak of the devil…”

He swipes to the right, answering the call and pressing the phone to his ear. “Hey, don’t freak we are on our way back—”

Tooru pauses when his sister starts shouting into the receiver and he reaches a hand to Takeru’s shoulder to keep him from walking ahead.

“You what? Oh—wait, really? Yeah. Yeah—no, I don’t mind watching him until you get here. No it’s fine. I’ll just bring him back to Mom’s. Her and Dad with their friend in Tokyo right now, the one that just had the baby, but I doubt they’ll care. Mhmm. It’s fine, you can just owe me one. I know, I know, I’m a brat. Yeah, yeah, love you too. Bye.”

He presses to end the call, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “The train your mom was on had to stop because of an electrical issue or something. So I’m going to take you back to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s with me.” 

Oikawa grins and adds, “Feel like ordering pizza and playing video games?”

He takes his loud ‘whoop’ as a definite yes.

“Can we invite Hajime over too?!”

“Hey! Aren’t I enough for you?”

They share a look and both of them burst out with laughter. “I’ll send him a message real quick. Let’s hurry before it gets too dark out.”

It was times like these Oikawa really enjoyed spending time with his nephew. He was mouthy and witty, too smart for his own good sometimes, but a really good kid overall. He’d been trying to make a point to spend as much time as he can with Takeru now that he’d gotten older, taking him to his practices and games whenever he could manage, letting him tag along when he and Hajime go on dates and inviting him over to hang out with them at the house, playing video games or volleyball, sometimes heading over to the park if they want more room to toss back and forth.

They lost track of time a lot, usually walking home long after the sun has set, getting scolded by his sister when he brought him back after curfew and doing it again the next time because it makes Takeru happy.

And this time was no different—though, he didn’t have an angry sister to deal with today.

Iwaizumi warned him several times before about walking home so late, but honestly he’s walked home later than this plenty of times before.

They live in a pretty nice neighborhood anyways—crime wasn’t unheard of but definitely not something they dealt with often. Besides, who was going to try and jump a guy who was 184 centimeters tall and captain of his volleyball team? He may not be as strong or beefy looking as his boyfriend, but he wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.

The two of them continue on their trek back home, joking and picking on each other the whole way and just as they round the corner—with Takeru fussing over something that’s happened during school that day—Tooru suddenly notices two shady looking figures out of the corner of his eye. They are just leaning against one of the house on this street, wearing dark hoodies that obscured most of their face. He would’ve over looked them probably with how well they blended in with the dimness of the evening if it weren’t for the sudden chill that runs down his spine. The closer they approach to passing them does the sinking feeling in his stomach worsen. Every hair on his body was sticking up and he makes a move to gently push Takeru to his other side.

The boy stops himself mid-sentence, gazing up at his uncle with a questionable stare. Tooru shushes him before he can open his mouth to say something. Takeru’s checks around, smart enough to realize that something isn’t right and notices the two figures lingering in the dark. He doesn’t make any sound, but he moves closer to Tooru, grasping lightly to the material of his t-shirt. Oikawa rests a comforting hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly when pass in front of the pair.

Just when he feels like they are in the clear, a voice calls out to him. “Hey, kid.”

Oikawa moves to walk a little quicker, pressing Takeru a little more firmly against his side.

“Hey kid, we’re talking to you.”

He hears footsteps behind them and he’s quick to push his nephew behind him, turning and facing both of them—there is no possible he can out run them with Takeru with him.

“Yes?” He responds tersely, regarding the two with a very guarded expression.

Takeru makes a small sound behind him and Tooru is sure to stand at his full height to, shielding him with his body.

“You look fairly well off there, pretty boy. Think you can spare us a couple of bucks?”

Oikawa blood runs cold.

He spent the last of his cash buying Takeru that popsicle from the convenience store.

“I don’t—I don’t have any cash on me right now.” He admits honestly, trying not to let the obvious fear in him show in his voice.

One of the guys takes a step forward, sneering at him with obvious distaste. Oikawa instinctively takes a step back. “I think yer lying to us, pretty boy. A guy like you should have plenty of cash on him.”

Tooru bites down on his tongue, feeling Takeru tighten his grip on the back of his shirt. “Look fellas, I really don’t want any trouble. I seriously don’t have any money, I’ll let you check my wallet if you don’t believe me.”

The buddy of the guy doing most of the talking finally decides to speak up. “How do we know you’re not going to pull a weapon out on us or something?”

Oikawa stiffens, quickly realizing that he’s not going to be able to reason with these guys.

“I think the two of thems need some reminding of what happens when you’re stingy with yer cash.” The shorter of the two grins, knuckles cracking in his palm as he takes a step forward.

Oikawa acts fast, shoving Takeru back as far away as he can before he takes the volleyball still in his grasps and slams it as hard as he can into one of their heads.

“Takeru, run!” He screams, throwing himself at the other man before he can make a reach for his nephew.

Takeru hesitates, watching as the attacker frees one of his hands and clocks Tooru in the side of the temple. Oikawa stumbles, but doesn’t dare let himself drop. He whips his head back trying to see how far Takeru’s gotten and his heart drops when he realizes the boy hasn’t move.

“ ** _RUN! GO NOW!_** ”

Takeru jolts at the desperate sound of Oikawa’s voice and throws his everything in getting away as fast as he can. He glances back one more time before he turns the corner and pauses long enough to watch the second guy’s fist connect with Tooru’s jaw.

He doesn’t stop running after that.

.

.

.

Staring at the list of problems of page sitting on the desk in front of him is starting to give him a serious headache.

Hajime crosses his arms across his chest, glaring down at his homework like his anger will somehow help him accomplish something.

It does nothing but make him even more frustrated.

He was kind of hoping to have the worksheet done before Oikawa and Takeru made it back home, knowing for a fact that he wasn’t going to get any work done when he got over there. It had been a while since he’d been able to visit with Oikawa’s nephew and he was pretty sure that he’d be itching to have Iwaizumi’s full attention.

At least he was considerate enough to let Hajime have a break, though. His boyfriend on the other hand could care less about what he needed to finish. Tooru was a constant demand of attention, always laying and hugging all over him at any given time, whining and begging for him to concentrate on him because _he was lonely_ or _he missed his Iwa-chan so much._

(And honestly he could only deny those sad-eyes for so long.)

Hajime eyes the problems once more, knowing it’s his only chance to get them done. He lets out a sigh, reaching for his pencil again.

…and is interrupted by a loud pounding against his front door.

He jumps in his seat, slamming his knee against his desk, swearing up a storm at the sudden flair of pain before trying to limp over to his entry way. He has half a mind to chew Oikawa out for being insistently annoying (and for coming over to pick him up like he specifically told him _not_ to), tearing open the door with his usual level aggressiveness.

“Oi! Crappykawa—!”

A small body that is definitely _not_ Oikawa crashes into his lower half, sending both of them tumbling towards the ground. They hit the ground with a dull thud, making Iwaizumi’s head spin for a few seconds.

“The hell…?” He murmurs, putting a hand to his already pounding head.

“Hajime…!”

He realizes belatedly that its Takeru’s burying himself into his chest, a vice grip on his shirt, shaking like a leaf, and sobbing uncontrollably.

Instantly he takes the younger into his arms, holding him firmly against his chest, rocking him in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

“Takeru, what’s—”

“Tooru…!” He screeches, looking up at Iwaizumi with red-rimmed eyes, expression absolutely petrified.

He goes back to sobbing hysterically and Hajime’s stomach plummets.

“Takeru, what happen to Tooru?!” He doesn’t mean to sound so harsh, but the sudden panic makes his entire body seize with fear.

The younger babbles unintelligibly, so worked up that he can’t even form proper sentences. After several attempts, he finally chokes out, “S-S-Some really bad guys made us stopped…! They w-were asking Tooru for money and he didn’t have a-any! They threaten to beat us up and Tooru made me run away be-before they could get me—”

The life feels like it drains from his body, heart so high in his throat he think he might throw up.

“Y-you have to go help him! Right now! We were only a few blocks from here!” He fists the shirt in his grasp, shaking Hajime violently.

Iwaizumi leaps up, careful to put Takeru down gently. He holds him by both shoulders, staring at him seriously, “Listen to me, Takeru. I’m going to go get Tooru, okay? I need you to stay here and lock this door behind me. Go to my bedroom, lock that door too and stay there until I get back or you hear my parent come home. Okay? I will be right back, alright? Stay right here.”

Takeru nods his head several times, giving Hajime’s arm one last squeeze before letting the older boy go. Iwaizumi shoves both shoes on, shutting the door behind him and waiting a moment for the click of the lock before he’s flying down the staircase, running like his life depended on it.

He prays with every fiber of his being that he isn’t too late.

.

.

.     

For someone being outnumbered, Oikawa thinks he’s doing pretty well.

He’s gotten a number of hits on the two of them, the volleyball to the face really disorienting the second guy enough that he gets a few solid swings at the weaker one of the two. He gets struck in the head a couple of times, making his temple throb painfully in his skull, but he’s holding his own and that’s what counts.

That’s until the second guy gains his bearings and hits him squarely in the jaw. His world spins, worse than any vertigo he’s ever experienced, and he feels another fist strike him in the gut. The air flies out of his lungs in a choked gag and he just manages to stagger back far enough that he misses another hit aimed at the same place. He considers making a break it, but realizes he has no idea how far Takeru’s made it and he won’t risk his safety.

Slender arms slither their way behind him suddenly, holding both his arms in a vice grip and Tooru figures the first guy was going to hold him down so the other can wail on him without struggle. The beefier man gets a couple more swings, striking him in the stomach and face again until he can taste metallic and his left eye is starting to get harder to open with every blink.

Desperate to escape, Tooru rears back, pressing both feet against the ground hard until he’s thrown both of them back into the stone wall and knocking the wind out of his captor. He decks him in the nose, feeling his knuckles pop with impact and watching the smaller man shriek in pain when blood starts splurging out like a facet. His victory is short lived when a hand grips into his hair, yanking back with a vicious force that makes him bite down on his cheek so that he doesn’t cry out.

He refuses to show any weakness to these savages.

There is a swift knee to his already tender stomach and it makes him spit up what blood was already pooling in his mouth. His body betrays him by buckling and he’s on his knees—a heavy foot to the chest has him lying on the ground, he wheezes as that same foot stomps repeatedly into his chest until he swears there is a sickening crack within him. He screams, throat flooding with blood and saliva making it sound garbled like he’s being strangled.

He curls protectively around his wounded side, pain bleeding through every surface of his prone form. He almost adjusts to the constant jolts against body, numbing where repeated attacks strike him, until a second foot kicks the back of his skull—hard enough to make his head feel like it’s about to explode, but fails to give him the sweet relief of unconsciousness. The other foot joins in the assault and he finds himself wishing that he’ll pass out soon.

And suddenly the attacks stop.

.

.

.

Hajime doesn’t even think before he moves, his body is solely on auto-pilot. Tooru’s anguished cry fueling the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

His vision bleeds red the second he rounds the corner of the desolate street, saved for two suspicious characters and a familiar white and blue figure crumpled beneath them.

The noise that comes out of his mouth doesn’t even sound human. He barrels at one of the guys, picking him up and slamming him down before the fucker knew what hit him. He looks up when Iwaizumi steps near his head, a horror stricken expression widening across his face. He basks in terror on the crooks face for a moment, thinking he deserve it before pulling his foot back to deliver a sound kick to the side of his head.

His eyes roll into the back of his head and he falls unconscious.

The man standing by Oikawa’s head cowers in fear, looking scared stiff at the sight of him. He inspects the guy, noticing the blood down the front of his hood and on his sleeve. His nose is still subtly bleeding and his nose is turning a blackish, purple hue and Iwaizumi feels a brief swell of pride for his boyfriends work. He picks him up by his collar with both hands, hearing the guy cry out in fear. He makes sure to look him straight in the eye before saying, “You’re going to fucking regret ever laying a hand on him.”

He pulls his head back, yanking on the others collar as he propels his head forward, cracking their skulls together with all of his might. Hajime’s head spins for a second, vision swirling until it settles. The other guy doesn’t fair the same, going completely limp in Iwaizumi’s hold. He drops him without a second thought, instantly dashing to Tooru’s side, running tentative, gentle hands across his battered form.

“Tooru? Tooru!” He calls, running hands through matted locks, moving lightly across his face to avoid bruises.

Panic has a vice grip on him, suffocating him to a point that his hands are shaking uncontrollably. Oikawa isn’t supposed to ever look this—frail, body all broken and practically lifeless on the ground. It’s sickening, it’s wrong—he wants to scoop him in his arms, cradle his fragile form against him, but doesn’t want to risk moving him in case they’ve broken his neck.

He tears his phone out of his jersey jacket, dialing the emergency service, fucking the numbers up several times with as shaky as his fingers are. When he finally gets the sequence right, he presses the phone to his ear. The call connects with in seconds.

“Please…” He begs, unable to keep the shake out of his voice. “My friend got attacked while he was walking home. He’s in really bad shape, he needs help.”

He runs his thumb over the hand that wasn’t swollen, squeezing it for reassure. It feels numb in the palm of his hand.

Hajime tells them their location, also notifying them about the two thugs that attacked them, both currently unconscious right by them. The lady on the other end makes a noise of surprise, asking how they got to that state. Iwaizumi explains it to her and she starts panicking on the other end. She commends him for his bravery, but advises him from ever doing something like that ever again.

“Sir, that’s very dangerous what you did. You may not be so fortunate again in the future, please refrain from taking the law into your hands.”

He makes an agreeable noise, not really caring for her opinion.

He looks over Tooru’s frail body, seeing swollen bumps and dark bruises mar pale, milky skin, blood and dirt staining his usual impeccably white jersey. His suffering cries ringing over and over in his mind. He listens to the lady drone on, holding tightly to Oikawa’s freezing, limp hand.

He won’t have to worry about getting lucky next time.

Hajime swears to never let this happen again.

.

.

.

As desperately as Iwaizumi wants to ride with Oikawa to the hospital, he thinks of poor, scared Takeru sitting home all alone and knows he needs to go check on him.

He waits, watching as the paramedics tuck Tooru safety into the ambulance and drive off into the distance before he takes the second officer on the scene up on his offer for a ride home. The two bastardly criminals get locked away safely in the back of the other police car with a one-way ticket to the slammer from what it sounded like.

It still sounded way too good for them, in Hajime’s opinion.

When he arrives back at his place, he has to coax Takeru out of his bedroom, both of them having to wait and give their accounts of what happened for a police report. Takeru goes into another fit of hysterics trying to explain what he saw, only getting through it with Hajime’s gentle reassurances.

Thankfully, the officer working with them is extremely kind, going as far as giving them a ride to the hospital even though it’s out the way from him and definitely not his job to do so.

“I don’t need any more kids walking around this late at night thinking they’re superheroes.” Is what he tells them and Iwaizumi’s lips quirk slightly at the joke.

It’s fairly easy for them to find Oikawa’s room, when they arrive, with it being on the main floor. There is a nurse already present in the room when the two of them come in, Takeru’s hand squeezed tightly within his own. She gives them a smile when they walk in, already explaining what’s wrong with Tooru before Hajime even has to ask. “It doesn’t seem to be anything too severe. The worse of the damage is probably the two cracked ribs on his right side. He’ll have quite of few bruises too—maybe even a couple of bruised bones, but overall Oikawa-san should heal up just fine.”

She delivers it with another smile, making most of the worry twisting in the pit of Hajime’s stomach melt away, only partially though.

He’ll only be one hundred percent when Tooru can look him in the eye and tell him he’s okay himself.

“Judging by his outfit, I assume he plays a sport?” She questions on while writing on a clipboard, hanging it off the front of the bed when she finishes. “He’ll have to keep from practicing for a couple of weeks, just until his ribs heal.”

Iwaizumi nods in response, groaning internally at the thought of how much of a pain it was going to be trying to keep Oikawa off the court.

He waits until after the nice nurse leaves before calling Oikawa’s parents so he can explain the situation.

Presumably, his mom freaks the hell out.

“The doctor seems to think he’ll be alright.” He replies to her frantic questions. “He’s going to have to take off from practice for a while—you know how much of pain that’s going to be.”

He doesn’t quite get her to laugh like he wants, but she makes an amused sound which is enough.

“They want him to wake up first before they make a final decision, see if he has a concussion or he’s talking strangely, but they’ll probably release him within the next few hours if everything checks out fine. I’ll let you know if they do—we’ll be at your house if you and Uncle do decide to come back tonight. Sorry Auntie, but I don’t want to leave him tonight.”

” _You are so good to our little Tooru-chan, Hajime-kun. He’ll be happier if you’re the one taking care of him anyways. My son is so spoiled.”_

“I think spoiled is an understatement, Auntie.”

They share a small laugh, Oikawa’s mom promising to give his sister a call about Takeru before hanging up. Hajime calls his own parents to let them know too, his mom showing an equal amount of concern for her second son, making Hajime promise to message the second he wakes up.

After that it’s mostly a game of sitting and waiting. Takeru’s taken one of the bigger chairs in the room while waiting for Iwaizumi to stop pacing around on the phone. He’s being super good, staying absolute quiet and still even though Hajime knows he’s dying for a distraction. After talking with him for a little while, letting him steer the conversation with things about school and how much better he’s getting at volleyball, Hajime hands him his phone to play with, letting him download any little free games he wanted so that he wasn’t bored. He plays it off like he was fine before, but Hajime can see the appreciation shining in his eyes.

He reminded him so much of Tooru.

In the following silence, there isn’t much for him to do but stare at his boyfriend—watching him just lying there in the whiteness of the hospital bed, that did nothing but ashen his already pale complexion, looking uncomfortably still. It’s impossible keep his thoughts away from the sight of finding his bloody, bruised body—bruises that only seemed bigger and darker now. Thankfully, all of the bloods is gone, wrapped under layers of bandages, though the one over his head is starting to darken with the stain of red.

He wonders how rude it would be to go interrupt a nurse, but Takeru suddenly asking him to help with a level with the game he’s downloaded distracts him for a moment. A nurse comes in anyways after a few minutes, changing it while they try to figure it out.

It’s only a few minutes after that when the oldest Oikawa sibling comes busting into the room, heels clicking loud enough that Hajime could hear her down the hallway, outfit and hair completely disheveled when she enters through the doorway. 

Her eyes roam over the sight of her baby brother lying in the bed and Hajime can see the way her expression tightens, almost looking panicked. But before either of them can exchange words, there is a smaller body crashing against her legs and she drops to her knees so she can take her only son into her arms. “Oh god, my baby…! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

Takeru blubbers slightly into her neck, “Tooru protected me, Mommy…”

She brushes a hand over the top of his head, looking over to Tooru with a look that was thankful and half concern. “We owe your uncle a really big thanks don’t we?”

Her eyes flicker back to meet with Hajime’s, “We owe you a big thanks too, Hajime-kun.”

And even without her saying it, he can see the _thank you for saving my brother_ in her expression.

After that, it’s with Iwaizumi’s prodding, after sitting down with him and Tooru for another hour, that he gets Oikawa’s sister to take Takeru home.

“He’s been through a lot today and I think being home would be easier for him now.” He says towards the sleeping body resting against his mother’s chest.

It isn’t easy to convince her, but he promises that he isn’t going to leave Tooru’s side and it’s enough to get her to finally agree.

“Tell my mom to call me when he gets home—I’m going to bring him that set of sneakers he’s been posting all over his Instagram feed, the brat deserves something nice after all of this.” She says it off-handedly, but the look she sends towards Tooru screams eternally grateful.

Hajime nods his head, sending them off with a _drive safely_ before the room is finally just theirs.

He slides his chair as far as he can to the bed, grasping onto the hand closest to him, tracing patterns into the slightly-calloused palm, frowning at the way his boyfriend’s skin seem to grow even more purple every time he glanced away.

The nurse, when she’d come back in, had told him it would probably still be a few hours before he woke up and that he was free to go get drinks or something to eat in the common room if he liked, but Hajime refused to move from his spot, only getting up to use the bathroom once before coming straight back to Tooru’s side immediately.

Iwaizumi refused to let him to wake up alone.

At some point he’s rested his head next to the hand he was still rubbing over, just starting to feel like he could possibly fall asleep when he feels Oikawa’s fingers twitch in his hand.

Hajime sits straight up and stares at his face for a moment, just so he can be sure he isn’t just imagining things—

He’s rewarded with a soft groan.

“Tooru…?”

Another groan, this one slightly louder than the last and Tooru’s eyes are suddenly rolling open—or one of them at least—blinking blearily around the room, still too drowsy to make much sense of where he was.

When his eyes finally settle on Iwaizumi, his split lip tilts up, making him wince slightly when it pulls too far. He goes to sit up after blinking a few times, realization finally dawning on him when he notices he’s in the hospital.

“Takeru…?!” Is the first thing out his mouth, voice thick with exhaustion and worry.

“He’s _fine.”_ Hajime soothes, pressing a hand carefully to his shoulder so he can lay him back down, flicking a few unruly curls out of his eyes before taking his hand again and giving it a gentle squeeze. “He went home with your sister two hours ago.”

Tooru’s head falls back against the pillows, looking at with so much _relief,_ “Thank goodness…”

Iwaizumi can agree with the sentiment, especially now with seeing Tooru’s eyes opened and actually talking with him.

He continues rubbing over his hand, thumbing over each bump in his knuckle from where Oikawa’s had turned his hand over, when the other asks after a beat of silence, “What happened…?”

Hajime purses his lips, but goes through the account just like he had done with the officer, knowing that Tooru would just pester him later if he left any detail out.

Tooru’s quiet through most of it, but Iwaizumi doesn’t miss the way his smile gets a little bigger when he gets to the part about what he had done.  

By the end of it, Oikawa’s staring at him with eyes that look almost like they are shinning.

“My hero…” He murmurs, almost like a joke, but both of them can tell how seriously he means it.

It catches the other boy off guard, staring at his boyfriend with hard eyes and a furrow in his brow.

_A real hero wouldn’t have let this happen in the first place_ he thinks, but is quickly yanked from those thoughts when Tooru pulls particularly hard on his arm, half tugging him into bed with him with a knowingly look in his eyes.

“The hell…?” He grunts out, noticing his boyfriend suddenly trying to scoot over, having to stop and bring a hand to his side when the movement jars his injury. “You’re hurt dumbass! Don’t move!”

All he gets in return is a wobbly pout. “But I want you to lay with me!”

And Hajime goes to argue, reasons why it was a shitty idea on the tip of his tongue—he takes in those tired eyes, the exhaustion just seeping off of him in waves and know that if he tried hard enough he probably could easily convince him to lay back down without him…

…but he’s kind of exhausted too, emotions finally coming to a halt after hours of having worry and fear swirl around in the pit of his gut, body feeling as if it’s just played an entire match even though he’s been sitting around for hours. The sight of the open space by his boyfriend’s side is definitely appealing to him and really, if he were being totally honest, he just want to hold him close now, the urge to wrap his arms around him increasing tenfold with every tug on his hand.

It’s as if Tooru reads his mind too, when he reaches grabby arms out to him, looking at him with those oh-so-pitiful eyes, “Want you to hold me…”

Really, Hajime never even had a chance in refusing.

He pulls out his phone quickly, sending out necessary messages of Tooru’s awakeness and a generalized account of how he was doing, before tucking it back in his jacket pocket and assuming the space beside him. He lets Tooru curl up against his chest, making sure he didn’t jostle his side in trying to turn him over and tucking his arm just under Tooru’s head, resting the other alongside his hip. Hajime huffs out a laugh when he notices a pair of lips pursing out towards him and doesn’t hesitate to press a chaste kiss to them, mindful of the split, before bringing them back up to his forehead and pressing a kiss there too.

“Love you, Hajime…” Tooru murmurs sleepily.

Hajime can’t help but smile. “Love you too, Tooru.”

.

.

.

Tooru is released from the hospital the next morning, well-rested and bratty as ever even with his body beat up as it was. He was pretty relentless in trying to keep his boyfriend’s attention from the moment they woken up together to when they were back at his home. Hajime didn’t understand why honestly, he was already doting on him the entire time anyways, even though he swore it was only to make things easier on himself.

“This is all preemptive so you aren’t blowing up my phone in the middle of the night.”

“Eh? Iwa-chan’s not going to stay with me tonight…?”

(Which he ends up doing too because those sad-eyes were really a force to be reckoned with.)

His ribs would take at least six weeks to heal, putting Oikawa on a permanent volleyball ban until he was medically cleared by a doctor and—just like they all assumed—Tooru didn’t handle the ban well. He started getting fussy and downright ill to the point that Hajime would physically have to hold him down and cuddle him fiercely until the stubborn boy finally relented and was content just to lay in his boyfriend’s hold.

He received a mountain of flowers and gifts for his heroics—his fan club going crazy when they learned just how he got hurt and treating him like a king when he finally could return to school (Hajime getting a few dozen of his own gifts when they realized just who had saved Oikawa)—but none had competed with the brand new pair of black sneakers resting in his closet, just waiting for the moment he could return back to the court and break them in.

Many of people had praised the both of them for their bravery—Takeru had practically idolized his uncle for a month until Oikawa inevitably acted like a child in front of him and Iwaizumi was back to having a plus two fan club again, Tooru included—but the two of them didn’t really see themselves as heroes of any sort.

It was almost instinct really, the thought of _I have to protect_ driving them both forward. Tooru didn’t think he was particularly brave for protecting his nephew—it was his job to, just like Hajime had found it his job to go save his boyfriend.

“You always protect the things you love.” Hajime’s mother used to tell him when he was young and he completely agreed.

What was probably the biggest change to come out of all of this though, was the fact Tooru didn’t go anywhere late at night now without a certain gruff, spikey-headed boyfriend at his side.

“You going to protect me from all those big, scary, bad guys, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa would tease him, but he could always sense the gratefulness with every bump of their shoulders and grab of the hand anytime the two of them walked around.

Takeru was certainly happy with Iwaizumi’s addition to their playdates every week and really, if protecting the two of them only meant having to put up with _two_ overly active children hanging off of his arm once a week, it was well worth the ‘headache’ every time.

The thankful kisses from his boyfriend were a pretty nice reward in return.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty sure I have a thing for hurting Oikawa physically/emotionally and I'm not sure how to deal...


End file.
